Rahaf Alqunun, 18, refuses to see her father, who has flown to Bangkok to meet her.

A Saudi teenager who fled from her "abusive" family says she is "happy" after being given UN refugee status.

Rahaf Alqunun, who fears being killed by her relatives if she returns to Saudi Arabia, is currently in Thailand where UN refugee authorities have been processing her request for asylum.

Australia's department of home affairs said on Wednesday the UN High Commissioner for Refugees had referred her case to officials in Canberra who were considering granting the 18-year-old refugee resettlement.

I seek protection in particular from the following country Canada/United States/ Australia /United kingdom, I ask any if it Representatives to contact me.

Image:Thai police say the 18-year-old is refusing to see her father who has flown to Bangkok to meet her

She barricaded herself in a hotel room at the airport and broadcast videos of her plight on Twitter, saying she had been met by Saudi representatives and her passport seized when she arrived in Bangkok.

"I had been threatened to be killed before and they aren't afraid to threaten me in public," the teenager tweeted, later pleading for assistance by the UN, and to countries including Australia, Canada and the UK to offer her sanctuary.

Her posts attracted global attention including rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and the UN's refugee agency who have both urged Australia to allow entry to Ms Alqunun, who says she is fleeing physical and psychological abuse in her home country.

In a video of the meeting, Saudi charge d'affaires Abdalelah Mohammed Alshuaibi could be heard telling Thai officials through a translator: "She opened a Twitter account and her followers grew to 45,000 within one day.

"It would have been better if they confiscated her cell phone instead of her passport because Twitter changed everything."

Ms Alqunun later tweeted the video and wrote that her "Twitter account has changed the game against what he wished for me".

Saudi Arabia charge d’affaires in Bangkok Mr. Alshuaibisaid “they should have took her phone instead of her passport”